With an official signing of the legislation and a sparkling cider toast to the future of our children, King County Executive Dow Constantine joined members of the community, Children and Youth Advisory Board members, King County Council Chair Joe McDermott and King County Councilmembers Larry Gossett, Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Rod Dembowski in the celebration of the County Council’s unanimous approval of the Best Starts for Kids Implementation Plan. You can read the plan here.
El Centro de la Raza kindly hosted our signing celebration on Sept. 27 , and parents and children from El Centro and nearby Open Arms joined the party.
Council approves Best Starts preliminary funding, begins deliberations of 2017-2018 Budget
Funding to begin the first steps of Best Starts implementation was approved by the Metropolitan King County Council on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. This is a critical first step toward bringing the Implementation Plan to life!
The Council action authorized both the Department of Community and Human Services and Public Health-Seattle & King County to begin to recruit and hire staff who will be responsible for initial planning tasks such as writing and coordinating Request for Proposal processes for Best Starts for Kids-funded strategies. Both departments will also be working with staff to lead the prenatal, early childhood, youth and young adult programs supported by Best Starts for Kids that will begin in 2017.
County budget process
Executive Constantine transmitted his 2017-2018 budget to the County Council on Sept. 26. The budget includes proposed funding to support Best Starts for Kids for the next two years. The Council has begun their review and approval process of the entire County biennial budget. Information on the budget approval process, including the schedule for budget public hearings, is available here.